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Todd Dills

Champion sumo wrestler/Idaho potato hauler

If rumored body-mass-index caps ever become a reality for interstate truckers (however doubtful that is), 420-lb. Kelly Gneiting (pictured, as featured in a Feb. 2009 edition of ESPN magazine) may well be there to prove the regulatory faults. As a sumo wrestler, he’s in top shape, he said in this recent story, on the website of the Denver Post. You might not know that the three-time U.S. sumo champ is also a potato hauler, based in Idaho, of course, and according to the Post he will represent the U.S. in the August World Sport Accord Combat games in Beijing, which he’s done in different competitions “on six different occasions.” He’s been ranked among the top 10 world sumo wrestlers in some of these, too.

In the short documentary below, by filmmaker Micheal Shaw, Gneiting faced his “biggest challenge” ever when he prepared for the Los Angeles marathon. He eventually finished it, too, in 11 hours altogether, running a good chunk of the miles.

Todd Dills

Todd Dills is Senior Editor of Overdrive magazine and writes from Nashville, Tenn. He frequently covers business, regulatory and lifestyle topics for the magazine and at OverdriveOnline.com. His work on the “CSA’s Data Trail” series in Overdrive about the federal CSA program was awarded the highest honor in trade journalism – the “Grand Neal” – by American Business Media at the 2014 Jesse H. Neal Awards. Dills’ Channel 19 blog covers a grab bag of on-highway hearsay, owner-operator news and driver views from the roadways the nation over. His work in trucking journalism builds on a background of news feature, fiction and other creative writing and editing. Find him here at the Channel 19 blog and via his Twitter feed, or send tips to tdills@randallreilly.com or via phone at 205-907-2481.